314 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



the aquatic capers and aerial saltations of the 

 pompano when hooked are to be brought into 

 the comparison, they cannot be exceeded by that 

 most intricate dance, the " grape-vine twist," even 

 when performed by the most agile plantation 

 negro. But seriously, when its size is consid- 

 ered, one would have to go far afield, or rather 

 search the waters under the earth, for a better 

 fish for the angler or the epicure. 



I have seen more pompano about the beaches 

 of Big and Little Gasparilla Keys of Charlotte 

 Harbor, on the Gulf coast, than elsewhere in 

 Florida. On their outside beaches, during the 

 flood tide, the beach-fleas and pompano-shells 

 come rolling in on every wave. The little mol- 

 lusks disappear beneath the sand in the twinkling 

 of an eye, but the crustaceans are again carried 

 out by the receding wave. And this continues 

 during the first half of the flood tide, during 

 which time schools of pompano are feeding on 

 them. On one such occasion myself and a friend 

 were " flea-fishing " for pompano ; that is, we were 

 using fly-rods and very small hooks baited with 

 beach-fleas, which we cast in the same manner 

 as artificial flies. My friend, fishing at the 

 water's edge, often forgot in his eagerness to step 



